City of the Lifeless
by CressAlbane2
Summary: After the defeat of the Rahi menace, a new duty arises for two of the Toa of Mata Nui. Kopaka and Pohatu descend into a cavern of Po-Wahi that has more than its share of secrets.
1. Chapter 1

Kopaka, Toa of Ice and defender of Ko-Koro, vanquisher of the Rahi horde and one of the six champions of Mata Nui, had always considered himself patient. It wasn't arrogance; compared to some of the other Toa, Kopaka supposed he sometimes seemed cold or detached. To him, though, it was only common sense. The Toa of Ice had yet to find a problem for which haste or impatience would be an appropriate course of action.

The current situation, however, was nearly enough to make him reconsider. Wearily closing his eyes behind his mask, the white-armored Toa turned away as yet another resounding crash rang through the wasteland, the force of impact sending ripples through the few plants hardy enough to grow nearby. Y_ou've kicked it twenty-seven times now_, Kopaka thought. _By all means, try again. Perhaps, just this once, your efforts will amuse the Great Spirit and his distant laughter will blow the door open._

Kopaka's ire was lost on its intended target, a brown figure who stood tall on the barren, rocky terrain. The Toa of Ice wouldn't have elected to travel with this particular one of his counterparts – in fact, he wouldn't have elected to travel with _any _of his counterparts – but as usual, he hadn't been given any choice in the matter. Still, Kopaka begrudgingly admitted that it made sense. They were in the desert of Po-Wahi, his ally's homeland, and past events had shown Kopaka not to underestimate the Toa of Stone. The other Toa's body radiated physical power, and he turned with a roll of the shoulders to cast Kopaka a sheepish glance.

"Maybe it's time to give up that angle of attack, huh," said Pohatu, scratching his neck. The kicks barely seemed to have tired him at all, though just the same could be said of the door. It was an old, ponderous entryway, carved into the desert mountainside – and thoroughly reinforced with metal, Pohatu had discerned when they'd arrived. Kopaka could have predicted that his fellow Toa's strength would be useless, but without a better plan, he'd been content to let the Toa of Stone pound away.

Now, though, it had started to wear thin. "I agree," Kopaka replied, turning his gaze back to the massive door. It only took a moment of concentration to draw upon the Kanohi Akaku, the mask of vision Kopaka bore. True to Pohatu's word, the great stone panels were laced through with a foreign substance, metallic and rigid. "Brute force is not the answer here."

"Figures," said the Toa of Stone, taking a step back and peering up at the top of the great entryway. "Do you think it might open if we just ask politely?"

Kopaka didn't bother responding. He turned his thoughts to the door's origin, stepping the stone barrier backward in time with his mind. It had endured years of the Po-Koro desert wind, stood tall against the beating sun and sparse rain, and certainly resisted the efforts of a few too-curious Rahi and Matoran. ...But, Kopaka thought with a cold grin, he doubted this barrier had ever faced the combined efforts of two Toa. There was a way to succeed. They just needed to figure it out. "Tell me about the stone surrounding the door," he commanded, stepping closer to the door and reaching out to touch the worn surface.

With a puzzled frown, Pohatu shrugged and closed his eyes in concentration. "It's fairly typical," he said after a few moments. "Not too strong, not too weak. Thick, though. It'd take a while to go around the door rather than through it."

That wasn't what Kopaka had in mind. Summoning the power of vision another time, he gave the rocky crags around the doorway a piercing gaze. Whoever had built these doors must have made some way to open them, and the Toa of Ice was determined to find it. He swept over all four sides of the entrance, seeking out anything mechanical inside the dull stone. Much to the Toa's surprise, however, he found nothing at all hinging the door to the stone around it.

_ Unless_, Kopaka suddenly realized, _it wasn't a door in the normal sense._ "Pohatu," he said abruptly, grabbing the other Toa's attention, "think about this door. Look at the design." Kopaka gave his ally a few moments to comply before continuing. "Is it meant to keep us out...?"

"...Or to keep something in?" Pohatu finished, eyes widening as he realized. "This isn't a door meant for things to pass through. It's some sort of seal."

The Toa of Ice showed his agreement with a curt nod. "Whoever built this didn't want it to ever be opened again." That still left too many unanswered questions for Kopaka's taste. If the mysterious builder of this barrier hadn't wanted it opened, why would he leave a gap in the mountainside, showing off his creation to any passing Rahi beast? Kopaka suddenly had an uneasy feeling that the worn-away stone seal used to carry a very important message. Trudging through the sand until he stood the same distance away from the seal that Pohatu did, the white-armored Toa reconsidered his options.

He didn't have time to reconsider for long. After a few seconds, Kopaka's thoughts were disturbed by a faint tremor in the ground. Digging his feet into the uneven sand, Kopaka readied himself for battle in an instant. "What's this?" he called quickly to Pohatu. "Your doing, or something else?"

The Toa of Stone shook his head, not having any trouble riding the quake. "It's not me. I think..." Pohatu trailed off, narrowing his eyes again and peering at the sand as if looking through it. He knelt, one powerful leg going behind him, and scooped a bit of it up, letting the grains fall between his fingers. "If Onua were here, he could say for certain, but..."

Kopaka kept silent, letting his ally concentrate as the shaking in the ground continued. It seemed to be growing in magnitude, enough that the Toa of Ice began preparing an elemental blast in case the source of the tremors revealed itself. The moment dragged on, and tiny flakes of frost crystallized in the air around Kopaka's blade, melting quickly in the desert sun as they drifted away on the warm, sand-scattering breeze.

There was no time to react to what happened next. Pohatu tensed, his head snapping up to the seal, and with a wordless cry launched himself towards Kopaka. Moving with incredible speed, the brown-armored Toa brought his ally to the ground in a reckless tackle. The pair slammed into the sand a fair distance away. Kopaka struggled, writhing against Pohatu's loose grip, and opened his mouth to interject.

He was cut off by a tremendous roar as the stone seal exploded outwards. Shards of ancient rock scattered from the blast as a thrumming shockwave rippled through the sand. The bulk of the debris flew over the heads of the few Toa, and although Kopaka felt a small barrage of pebbles impact his shield, he also noticed Pohatu's weight shudder from a few stray rock-strikes.

It was over as quickly as it had begun. Ears still ringing from the deafening boom, Kopaka loosely pushed Pohatu to the side and stood, shaking grains of sand from his equipment. The area in front of the entryway had been flattened, and fragments of stone dotted the white sand like tossed daggers. _If it hadn't been for Pohatu's reflexes... _Kopaka shook his head, driving the thoughts away. It was better not to linger on what might have happened.

A faint groan came from where the Toa of Stone lay sprawled on the ground. "Some... welcome, huh...?" Much to Kopaka's relief, his ally didn't sound wounded – especially if he was still in a condition to make wisecracks. Pohatu pushed himself to his feet, wiping away the bits of the desert that clung to his armor, and cast a worried look at Kopaka. "Are you okay? I nearly didn't realize until it was too late."

"Don't worry about me," Kopaka replied, turning to look into the newly-opened cavern. The hot Po-Wahi sun barely penetrated into the murk and gloom within, and a tunnel led down into the mountainside at a vicious angle. It looked carved, the floor meeting the walls in near-perfect corners, rather than eroded or weathered away. There was no sign of the cause of the blast; in fact, the seal seemed to have been perfectly destroyed, leaving the outer stone untouched. Frowning, the Toa of Ice glanced back at his counterpart. "We shouldn't waste time. The sooner we leave this place, the better."

Pohatu nodded in agreement, walking towards the tunnel. "You're not kidding," he quipped, shrugging casually as he looked at the dark path. "I already feel like it's trying to kill us."

Kopaka turned away. He, too, had a grim feeling about this cavern. But rather than reply, the white-armored Toa silently gripped his ice blade and took the first steps into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

The cave tunnel was dark beyond belief, an inky sort of blackness that pressed heavily on all sides of the two Toa. This far underground, the only light came from Kopaka's weapon. It emitted a faint, chilling glow that barely helped push back the darkness, and the two had to travel slowly. Every small rise and fall of the tunnel floor cast yawning shadows across the stone, creating phantom gaps and crevices that twisted and fluttered as the blade's light moved along. Kopaka had traveled through caves darker than this one in the past, he recalled, but those had all matched their gloom with an unearthly silence.

This one did not. "What's so important about this tablet, anyway?" Pohatu asked, matching Kopaka's cautious steps with long, relaxed ones of his own. The Toa of Stone had no trouble navigating the uneven terrain, and it seemed he was pouring his extra attention into asking questions.

_I haven't learned any more about our mission since the last time you brought it up, _Kopaka thought, choosing not to answer. They had been summoned to Po-Koro by the village elder, Turaga Onewa. According to tales, Onewa had said, there was an ancient stone tablet hidden in this cavern, and it was engraved with the secrets of a forgotten age. With the Rahi menace defeated, the two Toa were free to venture into the depths of the cave and retrieve the carving.

"I hope it's important," Pohatu continued, pausing for a moment as he stepped over a jutting stone crag. "It would be a real shame to come this far into this dark cave, all because the Turaga wanted to add another old rock to his collection."

The Toa of Ice maintained his silence, but this time Pohatu's words were enough to raise a sliver of doubt in Kopaka's mind. The Turaga were too mysterious for Kopaka's taste. _Sometimes, _he thought, _it feels like they're hiding something from us._ But of course the Turaga had nothing to hide from the Toa. Shaking his head to clear it, Kopaka turned his attention to other matters. The air in the tunnel had dropped slightly in temperature, a fact that didn't escape his notice.

"We've passed into Ko-Wahi," Kopaka abruptly announced. The thought gave him a subtle satisfaction. It felt good, knowing he had crossed into his own domain, even if they were kios beneath the surface.

"Great," the Toa of Stone muttered under his breath. "Soon, this tunnel will be half-filled with snow." Pohatu scuffed at a loose pebble, sending it skittering away down the sloped passage. He'd spent enough time wading through snowdrifts while looking for the Great Masks of Power a few months ago.

Kopaka chose to ignore the comment, keeping his gaze focused ahead. The Mask of Vision didn't help him see through the darkness, and it was better to give his attention to the cavern floor. Even as he thought this, Kopaka narrowly avoided a bump in the rocky path that his sword-glow hadn't quite illuminated. Frowning, the white-armored Toa channeled a bit more of his power into the weapon, making the glow flash more brightly for a brief moment.

The burst of cold, icy light revealed a change in the angle of the tunnel and a series of engraved pillars. Overhead, barely visible in the gloom, a great arch passed through the roof of the cavern. They had reached some sort of gateway, a spot where the floor leveled off and became smooth. "Be careful," Kopaka said, scanning the pillars with his Mask of Power and finding the same foreign substance laced within them. "There's something ahead."

Pohatu raised a hand to shield himself from the flash. "Finally. I was beginning to think the stone seal was placed there to stop Matoran from wandering into the endless sloped tunnel it guarded," he said, grinning even as he squinted in the sudden brightness.

Reducing the glow to its previous strength, Kopaka passed under the arch and into the next section of the tunnel. Here, the floor was impeccably smooth, as if a Matoran had spent years carving away every imperfection in the tough rock. What little of the room Kopaka could see resembled a sort of antechamber, the entrance or exit of an important place. Shadows pooled in the distant corners, out of the reach of the ice blade's shimmering light. There was only one way to proceed: straight ahead through the middle of the wide chamber.

"What is this place?" Pohatu asked quietly, stepping through the gateway to stand at the side of his ally. "It looks... ancient." There was a tone of wonder in the Toa's voice as he gazed up at the room's ceiling far above them. Embossed lines ran through the pillars and walls, and the sword-light warped and twisted them into jagged columns of darkness. The Toa of Stone reached down, tracing a hand along the floor with an expression of awe. "Whoever crafted this was a master," he murmured.

_Was, _Kopaka thought grimly, _or is. _He had an uneasy feeling that the creator of this strange tunnel might not have vanished only because of the passage of time. Loosely gripping his shield and holding the ice blade high overhead, Kopaka walked forward until he stood in the middle of the chamber. Across the wide space, a gap in the curved stone walls loomed in the darkness. It was a smaller arch, just taller than a Toa, and beyond lay only more shadow.

"There's the exit," Pohatu called out, his voice loud in the musty air of the chamber. "It leads to a larger area." Turning in a slow circle to take in the room another time, he stopped and glanced at Kopaka, waiting for the other Toa to continue moving.

Kopaka had no idea how his counterpart knew what lay ahead, but he was willing to trust the Toa of Stone. He mentally readied himself and, taking a few echoing steps through the empty chamber, passed under the exit arch, instinctively dimming the power flowing through his weapon.

If it hadn't been for Pohatu, he would have walked right over the ledge. Suddenly, Kopaka felt his ally's strong grip around his shoulder, yanking him back. Right in front of them was a yawning precipice, deep enough that Kopaka could feel a faint draft moving down into the chasm. Below, only blackness waited.

Back in the relative safety of the arch, Pohatu cast his friend a worried look. "You almost fell!" the Toa said, concern obvious in his voice. Pohatu hadn't yet let go, and his hand stayed, large and heavy, around Kopaka's shoulder armor for another moment. "Maybe I forgot to mention this," the Toa of Stone added sheepishly, "but there's a drop-off ahead." Despite the levity of his comment, there was concern in Pohatu's yellow eyes.

Gently away brushing his counterpart's grip, Kopaka lifted his weapon again and peered over the edge. "I noticed," he brusquely replied. The two Toa stood on a thin outcropping of stone, and from what little of the massive space Kopaka could see, it looked like the cavern stretched out circularly in all directions. To either side, the small walkway spiraled downwards and out of view into the murk.

"Down we go, then," Pohatu chuckled, seemingly relieved that Kopaka was fine. He was already making his way towards one of the curved ramps. "We'll take the slow, safe route."

Though he didn't show it, Kopaka wrestled with the idea that he'd been too careless walking through the archway. _Pohatu won't always be there to catch you_, he thought as he followed the Toa of Stone down the sloped path. It disconcerted him. This was a mistake he would expect of Lewa, maybe, or Tahu the hothead. But all Kopaka could do was vow not to make the same slip-up twice as he moved through the darkness.

The spiraling ramp seemed to go on for ages, and Kopaka counted three full circles in his head before they finally reached flat ground. Here, the sword's weak light revealed an open expanse of stone, an area that would have been dotted with shrubs had they been back on the surface of Po-Wahi. Behind them, a massive pillar of rock reached up into the shadows, the thick cord of stone wrapped by the very path they'd just descended. Pohatu crouched and examined the floor, drawing Kopaka's attention.

"Huh," the brown-armored Toa murmured with a frown. "If I didn't know better, I'd say this whole cavern was carved by hand. The marks in the stone..." Trailing off, Pohatu dragged a finger across the rock, following some tiny path that Kopaka couldn't detect. After a few seconds, he stood upright and shook his head. "It can't be, though. You would need a thousand Matoran to carve away something this massive, even given a decade or two."

Before Kopaka could reply, a faint buzz echoed through the darkness. It was a chitinous sound, the chittering of insectoid wings fluttering to life. But, more importantly, it was a sound Kopaka knew.

It was the sound of a Nui-Rama taking flight.

"Nui-Rama!" Pohatu hissed, looking around for a makeshift weapon. During the quest for the Great Masks, the flying Rahi had caused no small amount of trouble for the six Toa. _But Nui-Rama are native to Le-Wahi,_ Kopaka thought, momentarily puzzled. _What is it doing here...?_

Then the time for thinking was over as the nimble Rahi buzzed into view of Kopaka's light. Unlike the Nui-Rama they'd battled before, this one didn't have an infected Kanohi mask – it was a wild beast and not under the control of Makuta. But that didn't mean the creature would be any less hostile towards strangers invading its home. The Nui-Rama's stinger twitched, and the Rahi buzzed again as it swooped towards Kopaka.

Pohatu's thrown rock clipped it out of the air seconds later. Heavy stone smashed into the Nui-Rama's fragile wings, driving it to the ground. Screeching, the Rahi flailed aimlessly for a few moments, its hook-like beak quivering back and forth. "Ha!" Pohatu proclaimed, dusting off his hands as he looked down at the subdued beast. "I think we can handle a lone Nui-"

The rest of his words were drowned out by a warbling, piercing cry, loud enough to make Kopaka wince after the silence of the descent. It was like an echo of the Nui-Rama's wounded scream – an echo responding from hundreds of directions at once. A faint buzzing began in the darkness, but it didn't stay faint for long.

Kopaka realized what it was in a heartbeat, and a cold shard of doubt split into his gut. _We might be able to handle a lone Nui-Rama, _he thought, summoning his elemental power and readying himself to strike, _but can we handle an entire nest?_

* * *

Note: This is my first fan-fiction and really my first foray into creative writing. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

It's so much fun to think like Kopaka, though. *frostily walks away*


	3. Chapter 3

There must have been dozens of them. All around, the droning buzz of Nui-Rama filled the air, boring into Kopaka's head and making it impossible to think clearly. The Rahi whizzed in ominous, slowly-tightening circles around the two Toa, the menacing points of their stingers catching the dim light. Making matters worse, keeping the glow sustained was only giving the Nui-Rama a helpful beacon pointing right at Kopaka.

"This would be a good time to reveal your plan," Pohatu said, his humor laced with worry now as he turned back-to-back with his ally. "Ideally, it involves driving off an entire nest of Nui-Rama, and no stung Toa!"

But Kopaka didn't have a plan. Not yet, anyway. For the moment, the flying Rahi only whirled in their angry loops around the duo, seemingly confused by the sword-light. _That won't last long,_ Kopaka thought, slashing at the air in a futile attempt to scare the Nui-Rama away. _Soon, they'll attack. _The Toa of Ice recalled everything he knew about the creatures.

They were native to the misty jungles of Le-Wahi – an environment that suited the insectoid Rahi well. Bursting out of the underbrush or swooping down from the canopy, Nui-Rama hunted by ambush, only relying on swarms to defend the nest. Their claws were as dangerous as their stingers, and they moved as blurs, whizzing nearly too fast to be seen at top speed.

Kopaka remembered one more thing about their buzzing assailants, however. During the quest for the Great Masks, he and the other Toa had encountered and defeated a pack of Nui-Rama before. _Cold,_ Kopaka thought with a surge of confidence. _Nui-Rama hate the cold._ That didn't explain why the Rahi had taken up residence in a tunnel deep beneath the ice plains of Ko-Wahi, but there was no time to ponder their origins.

"Get ready to run!" the white-armored Toa called out, his voice echoing in the vast chamber. Giving Pohatu a few seconds to prepare, Kopaka reached for his elemental power.

Then he struck. A frigid blast of energy shot into the air and exploded, sending howling ice gusting in all directions. Kopaka gritted his teeth and maintained the effort, already feeling his strength ebbing away. Around him, Nui-Rama were buffeted by waves of glacial frost – just a few more seconds were all he needed. The Toa of Ice was so focused that he barely noticed when Pohatu gripped his wrist firmly.

The makeshift blizzard died moments later, but the chill storm had done its job: the temperature in the cavern had dropped crisply. Fatigue slammed into Kopaka with enough intensity to make him stumble to one knee. He couldn't remember the last time he'd unleashed so much energy at once.

Pohatu's hand yanked Kopaka to his feet in an urgent motion. "Come on," the Toa of Stone said, starting to run as he dragged his ally behind him. Kopaka couldn't tell where they were going – he was much too drained to focus on that – but he did notice that the Nui-Rama looked visibly slowed. The ice storm had bought them a chance to escape.

They left the sluggish Nui-Rama behind within seconds – Pohatu must have been drawing upon his Mask of Speed – and Kopaka's feet scraped along the stone floor as he was pulled in the Toa of Stone's wake. He could barely see now that the sword-light had gone out, and the angry chittering of the Nui-Rama filled the air with disorienting discord. Pohatu's footfalls came in an urgent, hurried rhythm that echoed through the darkness.

"In here!" Pohatu suddenly cried out, changing direction without warning and hauling Kopaka along with him into a small passageway in the wall of the cavern. Slumped against the floor, Kopaka watched as his ally turned to face the passage entrance. Buzzing Nui-Rama grew closer and louder, but Pohatu raised one fist and brought it down with a bold, wordless shout.

The stone around them answered his call, cascading down over the mouth of the passageway in a rumbling rockslide. Dust flew into the air, flooding the passageway, and Kopaka coughed from the resulting cloud. Despite still feeling weak, the white-armored Toa managed to summon a faint blue glow again.

Pohatu's rockslide had completely blocked the entryway. "Well," the Toa of Stone said, taking a step back and gazing at the debris, "now the Nui-Rama can't get in."

_And we can't get out, _Kopaka thought irritably, but he kept silent. Criticizing his fellow Toa wouldn't help matters, and the Nui-Rama could still be heard as a dull thrumming behind the makeshift wall of stone and dirt. Rising shakily to his feet, he lifted the ice blade and took in their new surroundings.

It was a smooth, circular tunnel, with a floor rounded enough to make walking right on the bottom difficult and with walls that curved perfectly. The icy-blue light extended down the featureless passageway, reflecting from the stone as dull softness. _It almost looks like a Rahi hive, _Kopaka noted, _but no Rahi could carve a tunnel so flawlessly. _The place felt vaguely alien, like an Onu-Koro maintenance shaft they'd stumbled upon in the middle of the old cave.

"I think it's some sort of channel," murmured Pohatu. "It's designed to carry something," he added, turning to face deeper into the tunnel. Apparently, though, the Toa of Stone didn't have any ideas about _what _this channel carried, because he said no more.

For now, it would have to be satisfied with carrying two Toa. Kopaka began walking along the curved bottom of the tunnel, the sounds of Pohatu doing the same reaching him as a slow pattern of footsteps in the gloom. They moved in this fashion for a while, and the way forward was plain enough that Kopaka's mind started to wander.

_Whatever this cave is, it's definitely not natural. But why was it built? And who built it? _Kopaka found that he had more questions than answers. The Nui-Rama, he suspected, weren't intended to be part of the cavern. Their wildness didn't seem to fit with everything else the Toa had found, from the masterful archwork to the flawlessly carved floor. Just observing that the Rahi were out of place, however, didn't give him any ideas about why they'd appeared despite the fact.

"Hey, is it getting warm in here, or is it just me?" Pohatu's sudden comment snapped Kopaka back to reality. With a frown, the Toa of Ice realized his counterpart was right. He hadn't noticed the stone getting subtly hotter and hotter, and now it felt as warm as the Po-Wahi desert they'd just left.

"It's not you," he muttered, already calling upon his Mask of Vision. A sinking feeling crept over Kopaka as he peered through the tunnel walls around them. Although the Kanohi's power was weakened by the dimness, there was no way it could fail to reveal the massive deposit of lava the passage approached. Only a thin sheet of rock, more dense than the rest of the tunnel and fitted like a plug into one of the walls a dozen bios away, kept it sealed off.

_Lava, _Kopaka thought, scowling_._ _At least it had the decency to bury itself deep underground._ He felt justified in his dislike of the substance. After all, this was Ko-Wahi, the land of beautiful ice plains and snowdrifts. Bubbling, molten rock deserved no place here. The two Toa walked by the blocked-off reservoir moments later. "It's holding back lava," said Kopaka, tapping the stone plug as they passed.

"And I was just thinking this cave couldn't get any more welcoming."

Being near the restrained lava put Kopaka on edge, and he was glad to let it vanish behind them in the gloom. _Still, _he grudgingly admitted, _it explains the Nui-Rama._ If there were hidden pockets of magma inside the cave network, the flying Rahi would have a way to stay warm. Perhaps an errant colony had been driven into the tunnels eons ago and wound up thriving in the wide-open chamber the two Toa had just left.

Up ahead, as the tunnel rounded a bend, Kopaka suddenly saw a light. It was a hearty, pure light, and the Toa of Ice recognized it at once. _That's the glow of a lightstone, _he thought, slowing his steps. Lightstones ahead meant that some being had put them there. Pohatu, just behind him, slowed warily, too. The duo silently prepared themselves for anything as they turned the bend and the exit of the passageway came into sight.

They hadn't expected a city. Another massive cavern, even larger than the Nui-Rama hive, stretched out before the two Toa, and it contained a sprawling urban network of rock. As far as Kopaka could see, lightstones dotted carved building-tops and hollowed-out streets ran between them. Pinpricks of warmth that were window-light, radiating out on the faded brown stone of the city, speckled the walls of taller structures. There was too much to see from the ground level where the Toa stood, but one spire dominated the cityscape, jutting up toward the distant ceiling of the cave.

If he hadn't known better, Kopaka would have sworn they'd appeared back in Po-Koro. At second glance, though, this underground metropolis looked far older and far more compact than the desert village he knew.

And that was without mentioning its sheer size. With too many buildings to count, the stone city would have filled any of the villages of Mata Nui three times over. "By the Great Spirit," came Pohatu's voice, hushed with awe. "I know a few Po-Matoran who would eat a lava eel to see something like this."

_No doubt they would, _Kopaka thought, but he couldn't fully stand back and admire the massive city the way his counterpart was. There was something else on Kopaka's mind, a nagging question that he couldn't settle.

_If this is a city, _he kept wondering as he stared up at the impassive stone, _who lives in it?_

* * *

Apologies for the delay. Midterms have a way of causing those.


	4. Chapter 4

Kopaka had never been in a city so silent. It was the first thing he noticed as they made their way into the maze of narrow streets. To see the brightly-lit and clustered-together urban sprawl but not _hear _it felt positively unsettling. All of the Toa's instincts told him that this place was meant to be alive - to be filled with Matoran going about their daily business, or idly discussing the most recent Kohlii scores, perhaps.

But instead, the city was as barren as the stone that it had been carved from. So far, at least, the duo hadn't encountered any signs of life. As they passed yet another empty house, its doorway an unopenable indentation in the wall, Pohatu paused with a puzzled expression.

"Hold on," the Toa of Stone muttered, leaning closer to the building. "This is... wrong. Broken." Those ominous words hung in the air as Pohatu inspected the rock in an innate way Kopaka could never hope to match.

_I've got a feeling that a lot of things are wrong with this cavern, _Kopaka thought as he waited for his ally to finish. The white-armored Toa took the chance to glance behind them. Being surrounded by the carved buildings on all sides made him feel unsettled and boxed-in, and as Kopaka looked down the smooth, lifeless street, he couldn't help but make sure his shield was firmly fastened to his forearm.

Pohatu interrupted Kopaka's grim mood with a sudden shout. "Aha!" he exclaimed, spinning in a burst of excitement to look at his frosty counterpart. "It's like I thought. Whatever this city place is, it isn't the first thing that this cavern held." The Toa of Stone pointed at some minute flaw in the rock as he continued. "There are signs of something else, hidden all over the carvings. You can see traces of ancient..."

Pohatu's words faded into the background as Kopaka considered the implications. _So this city was built from something already in the cavern,_ he reasoned. _Whatever it was, it's been completely replaced – there's no way to tell now. But the more important question is this: Does the Turaga's tablet belong to this city or to whatever came before? _It seemed that the more the two Toa discovered, the less they knew.

"...the markings, but you're not even listening to me, are you?" Pohatu finished with a small grin. "Sorry to go on like that. It's just that I've never seen something so large and yet so precise." Sheepishly scratching behind his head, the Toa of Stone gestured to the massive sprawl around them. "You have to admit that it's pretty impressive."

"...Very," Kopaka tersely replied after a moment of silence. "We should move forward. We're no closer to finding the tablet than we were a few minutes ago." Secretly, the Toa of Ice didn't have high hopes for discovering their goal within the labyrinthine underground city, but what else could they do except keep searching?

"I suppose you're right," Pohatu said, stretching his arms overhead and lazily continuing down the narrow road. "After all, if we don't hurry, the tablet might hear us coming and flee, eh?" The brown-armored Toa rounded a nearby corner, and his quiet chuckling followed him.

Frowning, Kopaka pushed himself to catch up. The duo had entered what felt like a residential district, its buildings multi-storied stacks of identical rooms. Here, the stone path was tighter, only wide enough for one Toa to stand comfortably. It looked as intricate as ever, right down to carved piles of "refuse" that littered the corners.

_Who – or what – would build something like this? _Glancing over to where Pohatu had wandered, the Toa of Ice made his way through the alley-like path. The stone around him felt so much like a city that Kopaka had to keep reminding himself that they weren't weaving through the narrow streets of Po-Koro, but instead underground in a remote cave. The illusion was thorough; all of the carvings suggested that beings truly lived here, from the way doorhinges looked more worn than the rest of the structures to the collections of scuff-marks near entrances and exits.

A shout from Pohatu spurred Kopaka onward. "I found something!" There was an undertone of excitement in the Toa of Stone's voice, and its cause became apparent the instant Kopaka rounded the next corner.

A Matoran stood in the middle of the path.

That's what Kopaka thought at first, anyway. Blinking, the Toa realized his mistake a second later. It wasn't a Matoran that he saw standing there, frozen in mid-step on his way between two plain doorways. It was a statue of a Matoran, and it was more detailed than any Kopaka had ever seen. Every tiny facet of the small biomechanical being's body was present. The longer he looked at it, the more impressed he became.

"By Mata Nui," Pohatu whispered reverently, "it's... masterful."

Kopaka had to agree with his ally. Gazing upon the statue felt like looking at a Matoran who'd been magically turned into stone. The sculptor had neglected nothing, perfectly rounding out the shoulder joints, finely winnowing crevasses between the fingers – even capturing the bored expression Matoran tended to have as they set out for the day. The Toa of Ice half-expected the carving to let out a yawn and continue going about its business, ridiculous as the thought was.

Pohatu stepped forward and gave the figure a tentative jab. A dull *thunk* of metal on stone rang out, echoing through the maze-like passageways, but it elicited nothing from the stony-faced carving. The figure merely stood there stoically, the way it must have remained for countless years. It was unsettling, Kopaka mused, for something so lifelike to be so deathly still.

"What do you think it means?" Pohatu's sudden question shattered the ice Toa's pensive mood. Perhaps it came hand in hand with being the protector of Po-Wahi, an entire land of stone, but Kopaka's ally didn't seem much bothered by their new discovery. "After all... you'd have to be a little crazy to make something like this. Wouldn't you?"

Without a good answer, Kopaka kept quiet. He couldn't figure it out, either. There certainly wasn't anything like these underground spires on the surface of Mata Nui – of that, the Toa of Ice was certain. _Perhaps it doesn't matter what this place means_, Kopaka reasoned. Wasting time in thought here could only be bad, and the idea of lingering struck him as unpleasant. With a horde of Nui-Rama to the rear and uncertainty surrounding them, their best bet would be to keep moving.

He set out again in silence, and Pohatu trailed along after a wordless shrug. The glow of Kopaka's sword-light wasn't needed here, with dim radiance coming from the lightstones speckled across the buildings, but he kept his elemental power at the ready, just in case. As the two Toa moved onward, their surroundings started to broaden again; the streets grew wider and the structures spaced further apart.

They ran into the second Matoran statue within minutes. Rounding the corner of a warehouse-like building, this stone figure held some sort of carving tool – a chisel, perhaps, or an awl – and carried a satchel over one arm. It seemed just as detailed as the first, and Kopaka inspected it with a frown. "Another one," he muttered as he peered at the gear the statue bore. "It seems like a sculptor."

"A sculpture of a sculptor," Pohatu replied, circling around and scuffing at the rock with one foot. "Very artistic. The Turaga would love it." Narrowing his eyes, the brown-armored Toa leaned a little closer. "It does strike me as a Po-Matoran sort of statue," he added after a moment of thought. "It has that... rugged charm to it, you know?"

...Kopaka made an irritated noise in his throat and deigned not to reply further. Still, Pohatu's off-hand comment had kindled a spark in the Toa of Ice's mind. Now that it'd been mentioned, he couldn't help but realize that everything here really did remind him of Po-Koro. The paths had that same meandering disorder to them, and the architecture, with its spires and carved arches, seemed just as self-monumental as the buildings in Pohatu's homeland. "Pohatu," he said with crisp suddenness, "do you think this place is connected to Po-Koro somehow?"

The levity faded from Pohatu's eyes as he seriously considered it. "Maybe," the Toa of Stone answered. "It's different, though. This seems so much more crowded, so... urban. It would take years of growth for Po-Koro to become a city of this size." Shaking his head, Pohatu pointed at the central spire of the chamber. "We won't have anything _that_ big for ages. Maybe this is all some sort of... plan?"

_If it is a plan, it's not a very practical one_, Kopaka thought as he, too, turned to gaze at the massive stone column. "We should visit that spire," the Toa of Ice decided aloud. From the very center, they'd have a vantage point of the rest of the cavern, and it seemed as good a place as any for their mysterious tablet to be housed.

"Sure," Pohatu started to reply, but his counterpart had already set out into the maze of paths once again. Sighing with exasperation, the Toa of Stone gathered his focus and followed after Kopaka. His icy ally had admirable dedication, but they were deep in the city now, in the heart of the cavern. Pohatu couldn't shake the feeling that they wouldn't like what they found in that tower.

* * *

Resurrected, I guess. It seemed a shame to let this story die.


End file.
